Mass atrocities being committed daily in Syria

Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chairperson of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Failure by the international community to end the Syrian crisis has fueled the rise of the extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, whose brutality is threatening to engulf the Middle East region.

The Commission says members of ISIL have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Aleppo and Ar-Raqqah governorates, including acts of torture, murder, enforced disappearance and forcible displacement and recruitment of child soldiers.

The report says the Syrian government continues to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity with impunity, noting that between January and July this year, hundreds of men, women and children were killed every week by the government's indiscriminate firing of missiles and barrel bombs into civilian areas.

The Commission says government forces used chemical agents including chlorine in eight separate incidences in April and May and that the delivery of humanitarian aid is also blocked as a weapon of war.

Paulo Pinheiro, is the Chairperson of the Commission.

"Evidence collected shows that the international community has completely failed in one of our most elemental duties to protect civilians. Over the last year and a half, it's clear that ISIS is an expansionist force. It seeks to destroy and remould humanity in its image wreaking havoc on civilians, minorities and the basic freedoms of women and children. Among the most disturbing findings in this report are accounts of large training camps where children mostly boys from the age of 14 are recruited and trained to fight in the ranks of ISIS among with adults. We welcome progress made to allow the delivery of aid into Syria, but humanitarian assistance cannot compensate for the constant threat of death, detentions and injuries."

The Commission says the transfer of weapons to the warring parties in Syria must be halted as they were being used in the perpetration of war crimes and violations of human rights.